This invention relates to animal traps and more particularly to an improved body gripping killer trap. Body gripping killer or humane traps are to be distinguished from conventional leg hold traps. Leg hold traps operate on the principle of heavy, small jaws which upon release snap shut grabbing the leg of the animal and holding it until the trapper next checks his trap.
As can be appreciated for certain types of animals, leg hold traps are not satisfactory. For example, many small animals, particularly such as mink, muskrat, beaver, and the like, cannot be successfully trapped with leg hold traps for the simple reason that they either have sufficient strength to remove their leg from the leg hold jaws or they will simply chew off their leg in an effort to escape. In addition, such leg hold traps are very inhumane because of the suffering they cause to the animal trapped therein.
Body gripping killer traps utilize significantly larger jaws and depend upon the animal's walking into the trap before the jaws are released and snapped closed. The jaws being larger, the animal is grasped by the jaws, normally along its entire rib cage and the rib cage is crushed with near instantaneous expiration of the animal. Thus, killer traps which employ body gripping jaws are not only more humane for the animals being trapped, but they are also more efficient in that the number of escapes is significantly reduced.
While body gripping traps have heretofore been known and utilized, see for example, Conibear, U.S. Pat. No. 3,010,245; Lehn, U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,104; Mau, U.S. Pat. No. 2,701,428, one of the problems with these prior traps has been their trigger release mechanism. As far as is presently known to the applicant, all of these traps depend upon a latch type trigger mechanism which is adapted to hold the jaws in open or set position with a release arm which is designed to positively disengage the latch mechanism when the trigger is actuated by the animal entering the trap. The release arm -- latch type mechanism -- is inefficient for a variety of reasons. In the first instance, when the release arm is thrown out of the way by the closing jaw, it may have a tendency to throw the animal out of the trap.
In addition, the efficiency of body gripping traps depends upon the animal being well within the trap prior to the closing of the jaws. Thus, any sort of mechanical mechanism which upon release has a tendency to throw the animal outward from the trap represents an inefficiency of the trap. In addition, large cumbersome mechanical pieces make it more difficult to lure the animal into the trap since it is easier for the animal's suspicion to be aroused. As a result, the only practical method of using presently available body gripping traps is to utilize them when the trap is concealed, for example, under water or in a den or tunnel.
Accordingly, one subject of this invention is to provide for an improved body gripping trap having a smaller and more quickly releasable trigger mechanism.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved body gripping trap wherein activation of the trigger release causes the animal to sink deeper into the trap rather than being thrown away from the trap.
Another object of this invention is to provide for an improved body gripping trap which eliminates the need for a latch releasing arm which flips over the jaws when the trap is sprung.
Another object of this invention is to provide for an improved body gripping trap wherein the trigger for the trap consists of a single moving part resulting in a trigger which is safer to set and less apt to be interferred with by pieces of foreign material being lodged in the trigger mechanism.
The method of accomplishing all of the above-stated objectives and others will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.